[Trey]

He awoke slowly, spooned up to Diana's back, one hand cupping a breast, his 
manhood at full staff.  He guiltily pulled his hand away and slipped out of 
the bed, heading for the restroom.

He washed and shaved and dressed in fresh clothes, navy blue leather riding 
pants and a cream-coloured shirt.  He emerged, still barefoot, to the smells 
of bacon, eggs, and other foods cooking.

"Good morning," he called, walking into the kitchen.  "Smells heavenly."

Diana smiled at him.  "Good morning.  Lunch is your turn."

He grinned.  "Is that the way it works?  Well, I'll endeavour to fix 
something unforgettable."

"I've had some unforgettable dishes, and they weren't all good," she teased. 
"Some still make me nauseous thinking about them."

"Ah, you wound me, my dear.  I would *never* fix something so awful as to be 
unforgettable."

He set the table and fixed the tea while she gave the bacon one last turn 
and buttered the toast.  He opened the bottle sitting next to the sink and 
placed three pills next to his plate.  Diana served and the two ate, 
continuing their banter.  They both avoided the topic of the meeting that 
was coming up, though their eyes betrayed worry.

"I've been thinking," he began.  "R'chein's going to be here this afternoon. 
I thought I might bake the boys some cookies for him to take back to them."

"That would be nice.  What kind?"

"Simplest, best kind of cookie there is, butter shortbread-- flour, sugar, 
and salted butter.  Wanna help?  Of course, I'll have to make a few extra."

"You talked me into it," she said with a grin.

******

[R'chein]

"Are you sure you won't just ride all the way to the hall with me?" he asked 
his passenger as she slid off Lofflossit's back.

"I'm sure," she answered.  "I want to look around the warren first and do 
some thinking."

He nodded.  "Okay, I'll see you.  Take care."

He landed in front of the area of the warren that lead to the Great Hall.  
Waylene walked up to him.  "R'chein, thank you so much for coming."

"I was afraid this might happen at some point, so I was prepared," he explained.

They entered the Great Hall and R'chein took a seat next to Tr'etram, 
setting a box at his feet.  Trey smiled up at him as he sat.  There was a 
woman on the other side of Trey that R'chein didn't know.

As Waylene waited for the last of the warrenfolk to come in and settle down, 
Trey said, "R'chein, this is Diana, a friend of mine here.  Diana, this is 
Telnor's healer and a very good friend of mine, R'chein."

"Pleased to meet you," R'chein stated.  "Sounds like Trey could use a few 
friends here."

Diana smiled and started to say something when Waylene stood up and spoke.  
"I want to thank you all for coming.  As I'm sure you all know there has 
been a horrible rumor floating around which is why I've called this meeting. 
The rumor that has been going around about our new transfer from Telnor is 
true."

R'chein watched the fear cross Trey's face as the crowd rumbled and 
muttered.  Waylene held up her hands to quiet them down. "However, before 
any of you make any rash judgments you must be allowed to hear the whole 
story.  I have brought Telnor's healer, R'chein here to tell you the entire 
story.  Please allow him to speak."

Waylene sat down and R'chein stood to tell Trey's story.

"As you all have just heard, I'm Telnor's chief healer.  I've also known 
Tr'etram for as long as he's been at Telnor.

"Tr'etram has been the mate of Warrenlady Ophelia of Telnor for 17 years.  
He has also been the Wingleader for Telnor Alpha Wing for 13.  He and 
Opehlia have 3 children-- Laria, who is 15; Brin, who is 13, almost 14; and 
Ph'let, who is 10.  He was a good, devoted mate and father and a respected, 
trusted, well-liked man... until a few months ago.

"I'll tell you the story as I lived it.  About 5 months ago, Tr'etram 
started behaving oddly-- he started swearing, sometimes profusely, which is 
a thing that Tr'etram never does, and yelling at people, including his 
wingmen and family.  The behaviour got worse.  He started hitting people, 
more and more as time went on.  He had an affair.  His relationship with 
Opehlia crumbled, though they maintained a front for some time.  In the 
space of 4 months, his personality had changed so radically that the warren 
was reeling from it.  He had lost control of his impulses.

"Then, some 5 weeks ago, he attempted suicide by slitting his wrists.  I'm 
sure some of you have seen the scars.  He was almost dead by the time 
Ophelia and I got to him, deep in the warren.  Beside him was a note, to 
Laria, apologising for what he had done.

"I got him to the med center while Ophelia went to talk to her daughter 
about what had happened.  Ophelia finally came to me there and told me that 
Tr'etram had raped Laria a week before, and Laria had kept the whole thing 
to herself while her father blithely went on his way."

The mutters began again.  Trey closed his eyes, remembering that awful 
event, trying to put it out of his mind.  R'chein waited for the muttering 
to die down, and continued.

"I've known Tr'etram for a long time and there wasn't a single person at 
Telnor who hadn't noticed the radical change he'd gone through.  I decided I 
needed to talk to his dragon, Koroth, through mine and see if I could make 
sense of it.

"Koroth described Tr'etram having headaches and memory gaps that started 
about 6 months ago-- about a month before the behaviour changes began to be 
noticeable.  I started investigating the literature and concluded he had a 
brain tumour.

"I offered him the chance to regain control of himself, though the risks 
were great that he would die under the knife.  He accepted.  As soon as he 
was well enough, I operated."

He turned and retrieved the box by his chair.  He opened it up and pulled 
out a jar with a fist-sized piece of grey floating in a liquid.  "This is 
what I removed.  And this wasn't all of it, just all I could safely remove." 
He saw a few people blanch.  "I didn't do this to make you all ill.  I 
brought this so that you could see the very real cause of his behaviour 
problems.

"Right now, he is on medication to prevent the mass that I had to leave in 
his brain from growing again and causing more problems.  He is also on an 
anti-depressant and an anti-seizure medicine.  It is my medical opinion that 
his behaviour is unlikely to manifest again.  However, his dragon is under 
strict orders to report any violent behaviour, and having nearly lost his 
rider to suicide once, I believe that Koroth will do just that.  Besides his 
dragon, we have the medical staff here at Marrid watching him, as well as 
all of you, now.

"Ophelia felt he couldn't start over at Telnor.  He had done too much damage 
and Laria needed time to heal without having him there to reopen the wounds. 
 She asked Waylene, with full disclosure as to the nature of his crime and 
his disease, but without identifying the persons involved, to allow Tr'etram 
to come here to have a second chance, as his only other option was 
banishment.  Waylene agreed.  I hope you all will support your WarrenLady in 
giving this man a second chance.

"Are there any questions?"

A woman near the front stood.  "You say it's unlikely he'll do anything like 
that again.  Does that mean there is still a chance?"

"There's a chance that anyone could act like that under the right 
circumstances," R'chein answered, "but, yes, I do feel he has a higher risk 
of manifesting such behaviour than someone who doesn't have a brain tumour."

"This brain tumour," a man stood and said, "you say he's under medication to 
keep it from regrowing.  Is it going to be fatal?"

"Probably not.  The tumour isn't cancerous-- it won't spread to other parts 
of his body.  However, if it does start regrowing, it could kill him, yes."

Trey glanced over at Diana and saw her pale at that.  "Oh, gods," she said 
quietly under her breath.

There were others in the audience that seemed to feel some sympathy for the 
danger he was in, but there were many more that reflected only fear or anger.

R'chein's eyes scanned the audience, then he shrugged.  "I'll turn the 
meeting back over to Waylene.  If you have any further questions, I can, 
hopefully, answer them."

He sat down, his eyes meeting Trey's.  "I don't know, Trey, I hope this works."

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Tr'etram and Koroth

NRPG: Well, all, any questions or comments?

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 * Lynette R. F. Cowper       *     Official INWO NetRep & Goddess    *
 * lcowper@io.com             *        Circle of Janus Secretary      *
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 *     The INWO rulings I make are official.  All other opinions,     *
 *  discussions, deck ideas, card ideas, political beliefs, etc. are  *
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